Spokeswoman Sara Hammond with the Phoenix Mars Lander mission told AP that the project's website, phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu, has been taken over by a hacker. At the time this article was written, the website was still down while security experts are rushing to fix the webpage.

It appers that a mission update posted Friday was replaced with a hacker's signature and a link redirecting visitors to an overseas Web site, AP reports.

Meanwhile,the scientists in charge of the Phoenix Mars Lander’s mission encountered their first significant problem with an intermittent short circuit discovered on the spacecraft. Apparently, the problem involves the device that is supposed to analyze the soil and ice samples gathered from the planet’s surface. As soon as the short circuit will be fixed and a stable platform for the robotic arm to dig on will be found, the mission will advance into its next stage.

The Phoenix was launched on August 4 last year and is the sixth successful landing on Mars, out of twelve total international attempts.